Isla Morada Hybiscus

Go Here to Bid           SOLD

Oil on Canvas laid down on board, 7.5" x 9 3/4"

I did this from a photograph outside of the Casa Thorn, 

a  wonderful B&B we stayed at in Isla Morada in the Florida Keys. 

 The whole

place seemed enchanted, from the wonderful woman

after whom it was named, to the myriad of fascinating

objects with which she had decorated it - all things she

had collected during her incredible 91 years. Everywhere

you turned there was something beautiful to see: Moroccan

screens, carved ivory netsukes of sensitive nudes, unique

paintings from the 1940's,  photographs of her friends - who 

just happened to be Frank Sinatra and his ilk - and plants

everywhere inside and out.  Giant palm trees, flowering

plants, with Cambodian granite heads peeking out from

behind.

 I've been thinking of painting this since last

August, and I finally did. I'm really happy this evening.

Pink Peonies in a Tarnished Silver Beaker

9" x 12", Oil on Board, $100.00 SOLD

I really had a lot of fun doing this painting. Peonies

are one of my favorite flowers, and I look forward

to their coming out every year. We have a couple

of plants in front of our house, but they don't get

enough sun. I treasured the few blooms we got,

but these I got at the supermarket. They were

surprisingly affordable.

I did this over a sketch, but I took a lot of liberties

with the flowers. I had to be a bit tighter with the

cup, just because of the structure. Sometimes I

think I must have been a manuscript illuminator

in another lifetime, because for some reason I really

get a bang out of painting things like those tiny dots

of light, light yellow on the cup rim and base. Maybe

because it reminds me of early Renaissance art, which

I adore.

It was was fun, because the rest of the painting got

to be kind of slapdash, and painting lines of trans-

parent, very brilliant colors through passages of

thick white. You never know what's going to happen...

I think I may do some more peonies tomorrow.